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Thursday, 8 December 2016

This year I was offered a pass for the preview sale (thank you, you know who you are), which admits two adults. Didn't take too long to get a plus-one willing to take leave on a Thursday. We left PJ around 10 something and probably took about 40 something minutes to get there. Parking this year was RM3 on weekdays; had neglected to notice what the weekend rates are, but I won't be surprised if it was RM4.

So they tore off the little stub on top as we went in. There's the usual basket trolleys, and then there's the adorable supermarket trolleys (not the massive ones you'd find in hypermarkets, but also not the tiny kid ones you see in some supermarkets) this year. They didn't have any supermarket trolleys inside, which was a pity, and had to settle for the usual basket trolley. And yet people still brought their own luggage bags.

Having skipped (at least) the kids section, Malay and Chinese books, it still took me a couple of hours to walk around and speed eyeball the tables. This year's Hong Leong Bank freebie was a bottle of water and a cupcake (which I couldn't take out of the F&B area, so I stuffed them inside my bag to get around that). Also applied for a Hong Leong Bank credit card for the heck of it and got a knockoff Anello bag for my trouble. Now the trouble is getting rid of it.

Didn't buy much. Put back a couple of books. Because they started using a new Point of Sale (PoS) system this year, I couldn't pay by card and had to pay by cash. I don't know if it was them or Maybank.

One of the things I notice about this was me not having to go around too many strollers and prams. Or it might have to do with me not hanging around the kids section also...?

Tuesday, 6 December 2016

The RM50 voucher had been burning a hole for a couple of months and only got around to use it on the very last day.

When we got there we weren't the only ones who procrastinated as there was an unusually long line for a midweek lunch, haha.

Left the name and phone number with the hostess and whiled some of the time at Coffee Bean. In hindsight, we probably should've told the hostess that we'll take the bar seating and save ourselves at least half an hour.

The main catch of the voucher is that you need to spend at least RM100, which is not hard provided at least two of you are dining as the dishes are family style, meant for sharing.

Saturday, 3 December 2016

Another Saturday, another warehouse sale. This year, Bosch wised up and decided to have their warehouse sale next door in the climate controlled The School in Jaya One instead of their outdoor parking lot, like they did last year.

Only got there around 10 something as neither of us were looking to get the big ticket items, so we only waltzed in and didn't have to line up to get in.

Fortunately, there were plenty of wipers when we were there. All you have to do is to tell them the make and model of your car and you'll get the right ones before you finish your sentence. (We also actually measured the wipers beforehand and the measurements tallied). The people who didn't know their wiper measurements or what car they drive (there was an auntie who wasn't sure about her car's wiper measurement) were a waste of time and space.

When it was time to pay and GTFO, we were asked if we were paying by cash or card. A cute guy led us to the end of the cash payment queue since all the lines made it damn confusing.

Credit card payment line on the left. Line on the right? Product testing 😖

So close, yet so far... yep, this the card payment queue.

You would think that things would go along faster when you pay cash. Nope. Between people paying cash for the power tools (props to the uncle who must've brought a BUTTLOAD of cash), people borong-ing windscreen wipers like they were going out of style (with prices starting from RM5 and average about RM15 for new-ish looking ones, they were not terribly expensive) AND the POS crashing (just a guess), we were in line at least half an hour. I can only imagine how long the credit card payment must've taken.

Cash lane was also slow

What happened to the kid?! Don't tell me the stroller was just for the stuff...

Didn't go nuts and bought just a set of wipers to swap out later. No point hoarding the stuff.

By the time we were done, we had time to check out the local Star Wars fan club event happening downstairs and had an early lunch at the newly opened Old Siam before going home.

Thursday, 24 November 2016

As much as I enjoy going to my local Inside Scoop (especially the swings), but RM8 (RM9.50 if you have premo taste) a scoop is not for daily consumption.

To celebrate the third anniversary milestone, they have an ongoing ice cream eating contest. But if you're not into that it's fine because for 11 days at a different outlet every day, they're selling single scoops of their ice cream for RM3.

They kicked off this promo (which shrewdly starts at 7 p.m.) at my local outlet, the Damansara Jaya outlet last Thursday. Drove there with the sibling and parked around the corner as the traffic and the double parking got pretty bad (the lengths you go to for cheap ice cream, I tell you), and this was before 8 p.m. You can't blame the neighbouring dim sum shop for the bad traffic.

The line wasn't too bad when we joined in, and it moved pretty quickly. Obviously the students beat the working adults to it and were enjoying their ice cream outside. To be fair, we were probably in line 10, 15 minutes before we finally got our ice creams. And because a lot of people opted to have it to go, you could also hang out inside for a while... until the ice cream eating contest at 8.30 p.m. We left before that happened.

The T&C as far as we know are that: it's really one scoop per person, so you can't go nuts and get more than that; the premium flavours (Valrhona choc, durian flavour, etc) are also RM3, which is great if you have expensive taste or just wanted a premium flavour for RM3 :P

Luckily for everyone, I'm not hard up/rajin enough to go to a different outlet every day for ice cream, and it's coming back around again the week after next, so yay...

Wednesday, 23 November 2016

I have a copy of the Fantastic Beasts book for years (first time in over a decade I've picked it up again) and I remember it being a really thin book; perhaps thinner than Tolkien's The Hobbit. So to make a movie out of this is just baffling enough a concept to get people to watch?

I can see why Eddie Redmayne was a shoo-in as Newt (he didn't even have to audition): he is just the right amount of awkward.

I can't help but feel that the line about the Americans being stricter about mixing with No-Majs is JK Rowling's dig at America.

If you thought the term Muggle was childish or whimsical, No-Maj (the American term) is a little rough on the ear. So was MACUSA, by the way. Typical Americans.

I thought wizards in this universe can Apparate and Disapparate over long distances or something; why did he have to take the ship across the ocean? Oh right - you need to be able to imagine your actual destination and it's a bit hard if you've never been...

Yay, Dumbledore! I wonder if they have to find someone younger than Gambon then..?

In the book, it said he graduated Hogwarts; according to the movie, he was expelled. WHICH IS IT?!

Newt's suitcase is impressive as heck and is like the TARDIS.

If I was Ezra Miller's character and I had that haircut, I'd be depressed too.

Colin Farrell is one creepy dude in this movie; some could say a bit the pervy predatorial.

Kinda wondered why made Newt think to use the Revelio spell?

If I hadn't already read the news about that bit of casting news last week, I probably would've been more surprised at the grand reveal.

Seriously, I don't know how they're gonna make FIVE movies out of this, since I read someplace that Newt might not even be in all of them.